History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back History of Discovery of Ceres Zheleznov N.B. At the end of the 18th century due to the discovery Uranus by W. Herschel the detection of the planet between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter was the topical problem. It was one of the reasons to baron F. von Zach to establish an observatory on Mount Seeberg near Gotha. In order to find an unknown planet the «celestial police» of 24 European astronomers was organized at the initiative of baron F. von Zach. G. Piazzi who established the Palermo Astronomical Observatory also was included in the «celestial police». However, a letter of invitation to the Italian astronomer never came. On January 1st, 1801 G. Piazzi, observing the stars in the constellation Taurus, discovered a strange star that was moving across the sky like a planet, but it was not visible in the form of a disk. The orbit of a strange star is just located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. G. Piazzi announced his discovery, but gave spoiled observations. As a result the planet could not detect throughout the year. G. Piazzi named his planet Cerere Ferdinandea (Ceres). Only in September 1801, when the priority of his discovery was undeniable, G. Piazzi published the correct observations. In the same year, C.F. Gauss developed a geometric method for the determination of the orbit of the planet from three observations, and with aid of this method it became possibly to calculate the precise elements of the orbit of Ceres. In the end of December 1801 Ceres was rediscovered. In subsequent four years three small planets between Mars and Jupiter were discovered. W. Herschel suggested call them as asteroids. The development of optical devices, and increased attention to the problem sooner or later would have led to the discovery of the first asteroid, so that the discovery of G. Piazzi was not accidental. Keywords: asteroid; observatory; Ceres; von Zach; Piazzi, Gauss. Contacts: E-mail: nickzhel@mail.ru Pp. 23-43.